Stefan Verbano

Ali Drive. Shops Shopping

Ali’i Drive – Shopping, Dining, Swimming and Sightseeing Along Kona’s Seaside Mainstreet

Shopping, Water and Sport / By

The roughly six-mile-long road that snakes along West Hawaii Island’s white sand coast from downtown Kona heading south to the small exurb of Keauhou is known as Ali’i Drive (“AH-LEE-EE”).  It’s a windswept, often tree-lined route that takes crowds of shoppers, restaurant-goers, sightseers and departing cruise ship passengers past eateries, spas, trinket shops, resorts and …

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Big Island Macademia Nuts Harvest 1 Shopping

In Search Of The Perfect Nut – Life On A Big Island Macadamia Farm

Food, Culture, Tours / By

Life on a Big Island Macadamia Farm: The pickers start early – just after 7:00am. Morning dew clings to the trees planted in their neat rows and the air is still chilly from the night and the all-consuming jungle darkness. Streaks of sunlight filter through the branches and start to burn off the damp, getting …

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Kona Farmers Market Mangusteen Shopping

Kona Farmers Market – West Hawaii’s Best Fresh Produce and Trinket Shopping

Shopping, Food / By

Few will argue that Kona Farmers Market – found just off of Kamehameha Avenue along the city’s waterfront of windswept, colorful shops – is the best spot on Big Island to sample the tropical cornucopia of strange new fruit that Hawaii has to offer. It is the premiere stop on the island’s ubiquitous, informal “fruit …

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Hilo Bayfront Park Beach Shopping

Hilo Bayfront Park – A Paddler’s Delight, and One Of the Island’s Longest Beaches

Water and Sport, Beaches, Picnic / By

Hilo Bayfront Park is just a short walk away from its sprawling farmer’s market and neighboring bus station, downtown Hilo and its small colorful shops and leafy, rain-swept sidewalks give way to an incredibly long beach of black sand and gentle lapping waves. The expansive coastline of rough, smooth black lava pebbles appears almost perfectly …

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Hamakua Macadamia Nut Store Big Island Macadamia, Hawaiian Macadamia Nuts, Macadamia Nuts Shopping

Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company – Home of the Big Island’s Famous Hawaiian Macadamia Nuts

Shopping, Culture, Food / By

There simply is no better place on the Big Island of Hawaii to feast on mounds of buttery, world-renown and locally-grown Hawaiian macadamia nuts than at Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company’s spacious showroom located in the hills above the small West Hawaii port town of Kawaihae. It’s a high-ceiling storefront awash in sunlight filtering through its …

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Big Island Candies – Heavenly Shortbreads, Cookies, Brownies and Chocolate-Dipped Treats in The Heart of Hilo

Shopping, Food / By

Few shops on Big Island cater to the sweet tooths of visitors and locals alike quite like Big Island Candies, whose sprawling factory and handsome storefront found off a leafy side-road in the town of Hilo is absolutely packed wall to wall with buttery, sugar-dusted chocolatey delights. The alluring perfume of its fresh-baked shortbreads greets …

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Magic Sands Beach-The Disappearing Act Along Kona’s Ali’i Drive

Beaches, Snorkeling, Water and Sport / By

Hawaii’s Big Island has no shortage of destinations deemed “magical” by the thousands of intrigued visitors it welcomes each and every year. Magic Sands Beach is one of the most popular After all, Big Island is the place of towering green Jurassic Park-looking valleys, mystical fairy forests of ironwood trees browsed by wild horses, bubbling …

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